Posted on 10/29/2013 12:02:03 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Democrats knew all along that some patients would lose their health insurance plans under the new law, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) acknowledged on Tuesday.
Although President Obama had vowed repeatedly that, under his signature healthcare initiative, those who like their plans could keep them, millions of patients are reportedly in individual plans that don't meet the law's minimum coverage criteria, forcing them to buy better insurance.
Hoyer, the House minority whip, said Democrats were aware that such a shift was coming. He defended the change by arguing that those patients would ultimately benefit by getting better insurance, many of them at a lower price than they currently pay.
"We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify, and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage," Hoyer said during a press briefing in the Capitol.
The promise that patients could retain their current coverage was designed, Hoyer said, "to allay the fears of somebody that had insurance — group insurance, for the most part — that do meet the criteria."
"We've used that [message] in trying to allay the fears of people who have group policies or significant coverage … through their employer, which was the overwhelming number," he said. "I think we could have caveated [to say], 'Unless you have coverage that's insufficient to accomplish the objectives of giving you adequate, quality healthcare.'"
Pressed as to whether Obama and the Democrats misled the public on the topic, Hoyer conceded the party's message could have been better articulated.
"I don't think the message was wrong. I think the message was accurate. But it was not precise enough," he said. "Clearly, it should have been caveated with, 'Assuming you have a policy that, in fact, does do what the bill is designed to do.' "
Under the 2010 healthcare law, insurance plans have to cover a basic scope of services to be considered viable under the individual mandate.
On Monday, NBC News reported that at least half of the 14 million Americans who have individual coverage are in plans that don't meet those minimum standards.
Republicans have pounced on the news, arguing that the broken promise is just another reason to scrap the entire law.
"I’ve heard from hundreds of my constituents who are seeing their premiums rise. They’re seeing their policies being canceled," Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday. "Many, again, are losing their plans."
Hoyer, for his part, defended the shift, arguing the better coverage — which includes preventative care requirements — would pay dividends down the line for both patients and taxpayers alike.
"The principle that the Heritage Foundation articulated was that everybody needed to take personal responsibility so they did not become the responsibility of the public to assist them in their health insurance," he said. "So what we said in the legislation, 'Look, you've got to have some minimal converge so you meet that responsibility.'"
But he also acknowledged that the developments have put the Democrats in a difficult spot politically.
"I'm dying to see the headlines," he said as he left the press conference.
They LIED to steal elections!
Let’s see - he defended it by saying that the ones that lost their insurance plans would benefit by getting better coverage . . . ah, if they could afford it. You forgot to mention that part.
How many are going to die because of these human waste?? No one is talking about that detail.
“’Unless you have coverage that’s insufficient to accomplish the objectives of giving you adequate, quality healthcare.’”
I’ll decide what is ‘adequate’ for me an my family, you a-hole, not the Democrat Party!
They LIED to steal elections!
No truer words could be spoken!
“Under the 2010 healthcare law, insurance plans have to cover a basic scope of services to be considered viable under the individual mandate.”
Application to grandfathered health plans. Under the statute and these interim final regulations, a grandfathered health plan that is a group health plan or group health insurance coverage must comply with the PHS Act section 2704 prohibition against preexisting condition exclusions; however, a grandfathered health plan that is individual health insurance coverage is not required to comply with PHS Act section 2704. See 26 CFR 54.9815-1251T, 29 CFR 2590.715-1251, and 45 CFR 147.140 regarding status as a grandfathered health plan.
Yeah, Steny. We knew too. Problem was, no one would listen. Oh well. Sucks to be them.
Ah yes, the old LIEberal bait and switch nuanced triangulated speech.
DemoRats Lied and HealthCare Died.
Would it be possible to put the DIMocRAT politicians in prison...all of them? LIARS.
They are lying to the grand jury—that’s us the American citizens.
Hoyer perfectly confirms Orwell’s warning that the worst kind of totalitarians are the ones who do it for your own good.
Liberals just love the idea of turning people into the government’s pets.
The Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress and then signed into law by the President on March 23, 2010. On June 28, 2012 the Supreme Court rendered a final decision to uphold the health care law. •Read the Supreme Court’s Decision on the Affordable Care Act (PDF – 779 KB)
The Affordable Care Act, Section by Section
Below you will find all 10 Titles of the Affordable Care Act, with amendments to the law called for by the reconciliation process. Click on each Title to see a brief outline and then read the law section by section.
Title I. Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans
This Act puts individuals, families and small business owners in control of their health care. It reduces premium costs for millions of working families and small businesses by providing hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief – the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history. It also reduces what families will have to pay for health care by capping out-of-pocket expenses and requiring preventive care to be fully covered without any out-of-pocket expense. For Americans with insurance coverage who like what they have, they can keep it. Nothing in this act or anywhere in the bill forces anyone to change the insurance they have, period.
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Americans without insurance coverage will be able to choose the insurance coverage that works best for them in a new open, competitive insurance market – the same insurance market that every member of Congress will be required to use for their insurance. The insurance exchange will pool buying power and give Americans new affordable choices of private insurance plans that have to compete for their business based on cost and quality. Small business owners will not only be able to choose insurance coverage through this exchange, but will receive a new tax credit to help offset the cost of covering their employees.
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